


Unsymptober 2020 collection

by Randomhumanbeing



Category: Sanders Sides
Genre: Abuse, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Child Abuse, Choking, Claustrophobia, Emotional Manipulation, Guns, Human Sides (Sanders Sides), Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kidnapping, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Physical Abuse, Unhealthy Relationships, Unsympathetic Sides (Sanders Sides)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:08:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 17,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26758510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randomhumanbeing/pseuds/Randomhumanbeing
Summary: A collection of my works for unsympathetic October 2020! The only ones I'm skipping are Unsympathetic Janus and Unsympathetic Remus. Each chapter will be a one shot and the notes will have which character is unsymp. Enjoy the read!
Relationships: Deceit | Janus Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 14
Kudos: 58





	1. Hiding from the spotlight

**Author's Note:**

> Unsympathetic Patton, this one's a human au where Virgil, Remus and Roman are children. Tw for child abuse both emotional and some manhandling. Be safe

Logan hated these kinds of things. So many child fears in one room, he could see the way some of their bodies sat stiffly in their chairs. Or how others clung to their parents. The subtle shake in their voices as they practiced their lines. According to Keysers and Parrett 2004's study on monkeys, similar neurons are released when people do an action to when they see an action occurring. This explained why seeing those children in this state made his stomach twist into metaphorical knots.

He couldn't stand it and led the twins to a smaller out-of-the-way hallway.The 10-year-olds were practicing their dance for the car jingle with practiced ease. He could still remember the day when they first made that PowerPoint listing the reasons why they should be allowed to audition professionally and what could he say, one slide of, "it'll be fun" one of "It'll keep me from stealing" and 18 more slides of 'please, pretty please' and puppy dog faces... It was an extremely compelling.

"I don't want to be here." He heard a voice mutter. He turned and found a child in a black hoodie and a cloud shaped pin gripping the edge of his jeans. He was younger than his own boys, or at the very least smaller. His eyes flickered back and forth, anxiously looking around it seemed like he was trying to hide from something.

"Where's your guardian?" Logan asked, the child shook his head and clung to his leg, "Please no, please no, don't let him find me."

Logan was frankly bewildered by this situation and mildly uncomfortable with this child gripping onto his leg, but he couldn't help but have pity for him as he began to weep. He shook him off so he could kneel down and look into his black eyes.

"What's your name?" Logan asked.

The child sniffed and played with the strings of his hoodie, "Virgil."

Logan nodded, "Well Virgil, I have no legal authority to separate you from your guardian and frankly there are too many witnesses for me to do so and get away with it. A Far more reasonable thing for me to do at the moment is to talk to your guardian about the situation as an adult on your behalf."

Virgil's eyes widened, sparkling in the light, "You'd really do that for me?"

He nodded, he thought it wouldn't be too difficult to convince his guardian to let Virgil not do the audition. Virgil took his hand and led him to the bathrooms where a man with a baby blue polo was fretting. The man's face lit up and he hugged Virgil, picking him up and spinning him.

"Virgy! Oh dear why did you run away like that?" He turns to Logan, a brilliant smile on his face, "I'm so sorry for all of this trouble." Virgil's guardian tried to pet his short black curls but the child turned away, so he gripped his head with one hand and forced Virgil's head to his chest. "My name's Patton," he held out his hand. 

Logan didn't take it, "Your child, Virgil. He sharred with me the fact that he does not wish to be here. As a fellow parent, I suggest that you quit the auditions for the sake of his health. I would also suggest that you don't touch him unless he wishes to be touched."

Patton laughed, "Is this how you get all the parents to quit?" He kisses Virgil's cheek, "We're prepared for a little competition and we're totally going to wow those judges right sweetie." 

Virgil stayed quiet until Patton flicked him, "Virgey! Pay attention, what did poppa just say?"

"We're gonna wow the judges." His voice was barely audible. 

Patton booped his nose, "That's right you are you little star! Oh! That rhymes! Neat!" He turns his attention back to Logan, "Where are your kids anyway?" 

Logan cursed mentally, it was not typical of him to get caught up in these kinds of things- but he did. He ran down the hall to see Remus, seconds from hitting Roman on the shoulder with his toy morning star. 

"Remus." He said and the boy immediately dropped it. 

"HE STARTED IT!"

"WHAT?! No I didn't, you did with your giant oaf feet!"

"At least my feet taste good."

"What does that- what do you mean?!"

"Do you peanut butter toe soak?"

Logan rubbed his temple, as the boys continued to speak, "Court is now in session."

The twins huffed and sat down quietly. Logan pointed at Roman, "Roman, you have the stands."

And so the conversation went on with the children defending themselves and cross examining each other until a decision could be made. After the final verdict (Remus owed Roman an apology for enacting violence in this case as it was not self defense even if Roman's words were cruel and Roman promised not to insult him for 2 weeks as reparations for emotional damages.)

As soon as the argument ended Roman blurted out, "So who was that creepy kid you were talking to?"

Remus bumped him, "You're not supposed to call people creepy."

"But he was! He looked like a Vampire... Do you think that's why he was wearing that hood? Dad are you a vampire now?!"

"Can you imagine how cool it would be to have a bloodsucked as a dad?! Think he'd bite me, I wanna see how sharp those teeth are!" He made a biting motion in the air. 

Logan cleared his throat, "Actually boys, that kid's name is Virgil and I think he's in big trouble. The kind of trouble daddy fixes."

Roman grinned, "Ooooh solving crimes? Can we help?" 

Logan ruffled his hair, "Leave this one to me Princey, I think getting you two involved will only lead to more trouble."

..................

"I-IeeEe Virgil's voice came in as an offkey whine. The pianist looked at him with a smile, "Go on kid, take your time." Patton was in the audience and gave him a big thumbs up, "I" his eyes began welling up with tears.

Patton looked at Virgil than the judges and said, "May I talk with him, just for a second. It's his first audition and I think my kiddo just got a little stage fright." The one on the far left shrugged, Virgil whimpered when he grabbed his arm and dragged him offstage. 

"What is wrong with you? Do you like embarrassing me is that it? Do you like making me look like I can't handle my kid? This is two times today!" Virgil mouthed out a small I'm sorry. Patton laughed a louder, harsher sound than anything he did in public, "If you were sorry you wouldn't have done it. Stupid brat," he gripped Virgil's arm more tightly, "I'm giving you the world and all you want to do is whine and complain, whine and complain every goddamn second. 'I don't wanna do sports poppa, I don't wanna do art poppa. You're useless! And too old to be crying like this." Virgil's breath hitched in between sobs as Patton grabbed his shoulders, "Stop crying and do something!"

Logan burst into the hallway, a shining blue light in the darkness, Patton straightened his shirt, "Oh hi! It's you again, how did your kids do-"

"The feeling's far from mutual. I just felt the need to inform you that my husband is a lawyer for cases of child abuse and everything you just said and did was caught on camera." He showed Patton his iphone, to his utter horror, Logan couldn't help the beam on his face as he watched the man's eyes grow to the size of dinner plates. He pat his shoulder and gave a small nod to Virgil, who seemed equally awe-struck.

"I reccomend you contact your lawers as soon as you can."

And with that, Logan walked away, confident that soon Virgil would be safe. He looked down at his own kids and smiled at the thought of the quiet black haired boy finding a family of his own.


	2. Frozen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one's a fae au, Janus can switch between scaled-human, naga, and snake forms. Roman can summon things. Unsympathetic Roman. This one added the tw's for mind control and torture and has an unhappy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a fae au, Janus can switch between scaled-human, naga, and snake forms. Roman can summon things. Unsympathetic Roman. This one added the tw's for mind control and torture and has an unhappy ending.

Prince Roman of Greven was bored. And good things did not tend to happen when Prince Roman was bored. Needless executions of people who displeased him tended to happen when he was bored and the guards were not very excited by the prospect of being beheaded, which is why they were currently in the woods, searching for something that could entertain him. 

There was a rustle in the bushes and they caught a yellow tail in the corner of their eyes. 

“What are you doing here?” The creature behind the bush said, half of the group began to walk towards the creature and half snuck on the other side to grab him by his tail. Not being an idiot, the creature ran. But in returning to his burrow he made the mistake of showing them where his home was. Hours past, day turned to night and day turned to night, but the guards stayed, and inevitably the creature tried to escape, only to get a net in his face. He spat and hissed but to no avail as he was thrown into a dungeon. 

The cell he was placed in was cold, he began to sway as a lethargic energy washed over him. Half-awake he changed his body, in hopes that having less of his body touching the floor would allow him to stay awake for longer. But as soon as his form turned mostly human, his knees buckled under him and he fell into a heap on the floor. He stared at the door of the cell as he felt his eyelids slowly start to flutter closed. There had to be some sort of weakness, this couldn’t be the end... This couldn’t-

He gasped as he felt a gentle wave of warmth hit his body, if he kept his eyes closed he could almost imagine the sun hitting his scales from the pinpricks of light in his burrow. He opened his mouth in a wide yawns, running his tongue across his sharp teeth. He felt a hand stroke his back and his eyes shot open. He backed away and gave a loud hiss. A movement that would unnerve any other, but the Prince merely laughed and put his hand to his chest.

"I'm shocked and hurt! You act as if I would hurt you little snake." Roman paused for a second and squinted at him, "You look familiar... Do I know you? What's your name?"

The creature raised an eyebrow and stepped back, "I'm not a fool, fairy."

Roman huffed, "Well you don't need to be rude about it! Alright alright, you don't desire to tell me your name. Fine, will you tell me where I know you from then?"

The creature crossed its arms and turned away. 

"Well, there are many ways to get a being to speak," his voice turned sing-songy as he shouted, "Oh guuuuuards-”

“NO!” The creature shouted and Roman grinned smugly and crossed his arms.

The creature cleared his throat, “I-I used to be Prince Remus of Ardonia’s top adviser. He was upset with me after I recommended that we surrender to you as we were losing tropes in the war so I decided the best decision was to vanish for a while.” 

Roman clapped his hands, “Oh how absolutely perfect! You’ll make a lovely little spy for me snake.”

The creature rolled his eyes, “Yes, after being captured and caged by you I want nothing more than to assist you in betraying my best friend and my nation.”

“Really?” Roman blinked, “That’s very strange of you, I expected to need the guards at least once after this-”

The creature rubbed his forehead, “No, not ‘really.’”

Roman shook his head, “What a shame, I really do hate torture. It’s so...” He scrunched his nose, “Barbaric. Blech.” He ran a finger down the creature’s thighs, “And those scales of yours are so pretty too...” 

The creature was, at this point both creeped out and incredibly tired of this entire conversation. Now was the time to transform. His body twisted and snapped and finally with a loud pop he turned into a snake. He slithered towards the door but found the bottom of the door far thinner than he supposed. He turned away from it to look at the rest of the room so he could search for another exit- but seconds later felt himself being scooped off the floor in a net and he felt himself... Become sleepy...

The last thing he heard was Roman saying, “It’s amazing how specific my summoning abilities are isn’t it?”

\--------------------------------------------------------

The creature panted with exhaustion, he could only imagine how he looked. Even glancing at the burns and thick scratch marks on his arms made him flinch. He couldn’t remember what had happened during the last few hours and he was glad for that.. Until he heard Roman’s voice.

“Janus is a pretty lame name. It makes you sound like an old lady.” The creature felt as if he’d just been dunked into a frozen lake. The power of his name being spoken. “I wonder if I’m powerful enough to change it, I don’t think anyone’s done anything like that before, but I’m great enough to be the first.” 

The creature’s eyes darted back and fourth. No one was supposed to know his name, especially not- Escape, he needed to escape now. Get out of here, find Remus, find a way to hide from Roman forever- he felt his feet start to move on instinct. Run run run-

“Janus, halt.” 

His feet went still, he tried to move them but they stayed still as marble. 

“Come here.” 

There was no amount of willpower that could stop him from moving towards Roman standing directly in front of him. The Prince loomed over him, a satisfied look on his face.

“Kneel before your Prince, Janus.” The creature moved down on one knee looking at the ground. Roman walked around him looking him over, “You know you lied to me a lot during that process, I had to try like 10 fake names before you gave me your real one.” He gave a sigh and cupped the creature’s face in his hand, “But it was worth it. You’re mine now Janus.” Roman kissed his forehead, “You’ll make a lovely little spy.”

Janus was fucked.


	3. Writers Block

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW Unsympathetic Virgil, Roman angst. Yesturday I did a visual thing sorry, but here's Unsymptober number 4!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW Unsympathetic Virgil, Roman angst

"Who'd read this crud?" Virgil snickered as he read the first line of Roman's concept. Roman sighed and put down his pen, so it was gonna be one of those days huh?

"It's a heartwarming tale -"

"It's cliche." He rolled his eyes, "Oh wow, 5 high schoolars from different social backgrounds are forced to work together. Real original stuff here Breakfast Club. What's next, a prince saving a princess from mortal terror."

Roman shook his head, it's okay, he knows what he's doing he can get this to work. He can work past Virgil's brown eyes hard and cold as steel refusing to let him in. He can show him how this was going ti work, It's not just the concept! It's the characters." He quickly found the folder with some of his basic sketches... He'll admit that he'd thrown a few of these into Thomas's mind when he slept but if he could let Virgil get them through so he and Thomas could expand on them-

"No."

Roman stopped in his mental tracks, "What? You can't just... Say no?! Virgil," he could feel a lump start to form in his throat. Don't cry Roman, don't cry right now he'll make fun of you for being so sensitive and than you'll never manage to get this idea to Thomas. "Virgil I-I know you don't think this idea looks good enough, but I worked really hard creating it! I think it might finally be our big one, our final effort to being knighted as the greatest creative minds that have ever lived."

Virgil sighed and put a hand on Roman's shoulder, "Princey, Princey, Princey. Of course you think that, you're Thomas's hopes and dreams or whatever. But reality check, your ideas are stupid." Roman flinched.

"And bad." It was getting harder to keep his tears from welling up in his eyes, his head started to pound from how hard he was clenching his jaw.

"And they're not going to get us anywhere. You might as well throw these out because I can’t imagine anyone caring about this.” Roman nodded, and put the folder back in his drawer, “Right. You’re right of course.” 

Of course he was right. What was he even thinking! He took a second to glance at his main heroine, yeah who’d care about her secret stamp collecting hobby and how she’d use it to bond with the foreign exchange student- who’d even make it that far! It was too boring. He swallowed, he could do way better than this!

He gave a small smile, “I’ll start preparing something new, something better! Something worthy of showing to Thomas, and maybe.” He did sparkle hands around his face, “The world.” He hated how much his voice shook despite his attempts to keep it stable. 

Virgil looked at his nails, “Yeah, I’m kind of starting to doubt that. How long have you been trying to find this mystical wonderful worthwhile story anyway?” Romans took a shuddered breath, don’tcrydon’tcrydon’tcry-

“Our entire lives, and everything that’s come out of it has been trash. Yeah we have what a few dozen 12 year old kids who are deluded into thinking your work is worthwhile, but that’s about it.” He shrugged, “Let’s be honest, you’re just not good at this whole ‘creating’ thing.” 

Roman couldn’t help himself, he tried to blink them away but the tears just fell down his face with the force and heat of flaming arrows attacking a castle.

Virgil rolled his eyes, “Oh great, here come the waterworks, look Roman I’m just telling the truth.” 

He’s right, he’s right, he’s not doing anything wrong. He’s just trying to help and here Roman was crying like some sort of child. 

“Why do you have to be so sensitive?” 

Why couldn’t he just stop crying and listen? Everything was blurring around him, Virgil’s naturally quiet voice boomed around his head cracking his skull? Was that why his head hurt so much? Or maybe it was his stupid crying, stupid, stupid, why couldn’t he just stop.

Virgil rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Tell me when you have a better idea. Or if you decide to quit so we can finally move on with our lives from this illusion. See ya.”

Roman heard the door to his room close behind him as Virgil left. He stumbled back to his desk, and with a shaky hand picked up his folder again. He hated it. He hated that he tried, he hated that he was wasting his time and Thomas’s time and everyone’s time with this worthless piece of junk. He needed to get rid of it. He walked over to the fireplace in the corner of his room and threw it in. The fireplace lit up with a pink light. In the smoke he saw the final remains of the concept, the Indian exchange student with cute braided hair, the heroine sharing her stamp collection with her, small moments and random words that he was inspired by.

Moments that would now never see the light of day.

He took another breath, his lungs felt exhausted and heavy, “Alright Roman, new-new starts. You’ve done this before. By the snakes of Medusa you’re the Prince of Creativity! If anyone can make a good story in this place it’s you! Who even are you if you can’t.” He nodded to himself and moved his chair to sit at his desk. He cracked his knuckles. “Time to try again.”

He stared at the blank piece of paper in front of him, pen in hand ready to write.

He stared at the blank piece of paper.

He stared

He

H

He couldn’t. 

His brain felt empty. Why-

He banged his head on his desk.

Who was he if he couldn’t even create?

\------------------------------------------------------

Thomas blinked as he sat in front of the blank word document. It was so weird, he could have sworn a second ago he had a hint of an idea. Something about... Stamps? No stickers? He moved his hand over his keyboard but for some reason nothing was coming to him. In fact, writing felt like a really bad idea right now. It felt wrong, he felt... Tired. Forget it, even if it wasn’t a great use of time, at least eating Cheetoes and watching Youtube videos would make him feel better.

Stupid writers block.


	4. The world ia a stage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit this one wasn't great, it's vaguely inspired by slashers... I had no idea what to do with this one lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Unsympathetic Virgil, Unsympathetic Roman mention, implied character death, kidnapping, claustrophobia, animal harm

Logan had no idea why he was here, though he had to admit the soft cusion of the chair was quite comfortable. Less so were the metal bonds that kept his arms and legs strapped to the chair, those were cold, hard and quite inconvenient as it made it difficult to move. Alongside his lack of memory he deduced that he had been knocked out and kidnapped. A situation he was not happy about at all.

He scanned the room looking for a key to let him out, or something that could be useful in this scenario. There other people in this auditorium, equally as helpless, but no lock. There was the possibility that they had something useful on their person but if he woke them up there was a chance their captor would notice and begin whatever they had planned for the group.

He decides to pick the guy closest to him so he could be as quiet as possible.

"Hello? Can you hear me? We're in trouble and I'm hoping you could assist me in escaping."

The man next to him slowly opened each of his eyes, the red one, than the green than he blinked. He gave a yawn so wide Logan swore he could see his wisom teeth.

"HA! I LIVE BITCHES!" He tried to move his arms only to hear the clink of metal against plastic. He shook his hands up and down, than his legs. "No." He shook his head, "Oh no it's not over- Roman? Roman let me out!"

His breathing came out in pants as he struggled against the bond, "Roman?! I was just kidding about the whole 'killing your friends' thing, you know that! I'm a joker, haha," he struggled harder tears starting to form in his eyes, "OhGodohGodohGodI'msofucked-"

Hey," Logan made his voice as authoritative as possible, "Listen to me okay. Name 5 things you can see."

"Wh-"

"Five things you can see. Go."

"My inevitable death, your inevitable death, the ceiling, these bonds that are trapping me and I'llnevergetoutI'mgoingtodiehereIneedtoget-"

"Focus, four thinga you can hear. Go."

"You, my-my heart- I think the guy on the other side of me is waking up. He made a noise but he could just be snoring... Wait no he's definately awake, oh huh. I think they're all waking up."

Logan couldn't help but be distracted by that news. He had blurry memories of one of them, a kid he knew in high school. Won prom king and was the head of the student council. God what was his name he swore it was on the tip of his tongue.

"Cheese and crackers was this our old theater auditorium?" Ah that voice brought it back. Patton Silvers.

"Oh such great memories!" He heard a third voice from behind Patton say, he didn't recognize that one at all but the guy sitting next to him did mutter, 'Roman? But if he"s here than-?"

"Ah yes, being kidnapped is the perfect time to reminise on old memories." He heard the final voice was lower than the rest, and he remembered the tone like it was yesturday. Janus, also known as the lie master. His second in command on the debate team for years until a rather unfortunate falling out.

"Aww Jan don't be a mope! Isn't it kind of cool that the kidnapper decided to take us here of all places? It's pretty actor-stute to know that much about us." Patton's optimism was as powerful as ever.

A voice on stage spoke, "Not really, it's hard to forget the place where some of your worst memories happened." Logan squinted, trying to place the it...

"Virgil the magnificant," Janus said, there was a slight smirk in his voice as the short man with dark hair walked out of the shadows, "Where have you been old pal?"

"Janus. Still stealing boyfriends?"

Janus rolled his eyes, "You'd been broken up for over a year but whatever. Bitter as always I see."

Logan had no idea what was going on there and frankly didn't care, "How much money do you want to get us out?"

Virgil blinked than laughed, "I don't want money. I want vengence, and... Someone to help me out with my newest magic trick. Any volunteers."

Patton cocked his head, "Vengence? For what? Virgil we didn't do anything to you-"

"I ran over his cat with my bike once," Roman said shuffling in his chair, "but I took him to the vet myself! Shadowheart turned out to be fine right?"

Virgil nodded, "He's alive and well hes a strong boy. No, that's not how you ruined my life. I've hidden clues all around this place for you to discover the reason that you're here. Of course, I had to bring one person who already knew what they did wrong so I could show you my first trick."

He snapped his fingers and in a puff of black smoke Janus was brought to his side, bound in chains. "You took the best relationship I already had away from me, and now you're going to pay for it." A large cupboard appeared and he threw Janus into it. He took several swords and slammed them into the box which barely muffled the sound of his wails and cries of pain."

"And now I'll make him vanish." He tapped the box twice and opened it, and indeed there was no Janus.

Only blood.

"You have 3 days to make it up to me or suffer his fate. Good luck. You'll need it."


	5. Rose Tinted Glasses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My first time writing Unsympathetic Emile! The prompt was mind control, tell me if it's less coherent than I thought! Also sorry it's so short :')

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unsympathetic Emile, Unsympathetic Patton, bad ending, dystopia

Very few people had problems in Side City after Patton’s Happiness initiative was approved. The crime rates had were almost 0 percent, and there were consistent reports from the people that they were happy with their positions in life 

There was of course, one exception to that rule. Janus sat in the waiting room, he didn’t look like a shit stirrer, patiently sitting in the waiting room for Emile. But looks were often deceiving, it was why he was so dangerous. He was able to play nice in the morning and at night burn thousands of documents or smuggle people out of the city or commit property damage. 

He figured he could slip his way out of this situation, promise the shrink he’d start being better and eventually just get back to messing with the system as much as possible and helping those who wanted to get out of it while still maintaining a decent social standing. Easy as pie.

The therapist with bright pink hair called him into the room. “Hi there, you must be Janus. I’m Emile Pincini.”

Janus gave a small smile, trying to make himself seem as pleasant as possible, “Charmed Doctor.”

He nodded, “Likewise! So, what do you want to talk about, I have a few ideas based on your files, but I think you’re the best person to lead this off. Remember, what comes into therapy stays in therapy.”

Janus took a deep breath, “Okay than, I’ll tell you the truth. You’re not going to change my mind about Patton. A week ago a friend of mine had a breakdown over his inability to comply with the rules. He felt guilty over his inability to only think positive and good thoughts. That’s something that never bothered him until this project started and there’s something broken... Rotten about the fact that he was convinced that there’s something wrong with him because of that.”

Emile blinked, than clapped his hands together, “I’m so glad you trusted me enough to tell me that. Can I have a name, maybe I could help-”

Janus shook his head, “No, trust me, you ‘helped’ him enough. He’s long gone.” 

Emile sighed and put his hand on Janus’s shoulder, ignoring how he cringed at the touch, “Look, I know you don’t have much of a reason to trust me, but I’m a therapist. My goal is only to make you evolve into the best version of yourself. Like Ash wanted Pikachu in Pokemon Shock Showdown.”

Janus blinked, “But... That’s wrong. The episode ends with Pikachu not evolving because despite it being more convenient to battle with a Richu. Instead of changing who Pikachu was despite his wishes, they worked out a strategy to help him battle more effectively...”

“You sure know your Pokemon!” Emile said with a laugh, “Alright, maybe that wasn’t the best comparison, but you see what I mean right? You can do better and I want to help you with that!”

“Thanks but no thanks.” 

Emile’s eyes narrowed, “I’m trying to keep my cool, don’t want to Exploud at you, but you’re not here for fun. You broke the rules-”

“That’s what this is really about isn’t it?” Janus chuckled, “Stopping the rule breaker. You don’t care about why I’m doing anything that I am, you don’t care about what might be wrong about this place that might make me behave the way that I do. You just want to get rid of the only person who actually cares about the people.”

“I- that’s not true Janus, if I only cared about getting rid of you.” He reached into his pockets, “I’d do this.” He lunged at Janus pushing his full weight against the smaller man’s body as he thrashed and screamed until he shoved a pair of bright pink sunglasses onto his face. His face slowly shifted from rage to blankness to confusion. 

“Dr. Pincini? Why am I on the floor?” His voice was groggy like he’d just woken up- and in a sense he had. 

“Oh you were being difficult for a second there, but you can get up now and sit back on your chair.”

Janus nodded and moved to go back to sit on the chair. Somehow everything seemed brighter now, like the world had gone from shades of black and grey to an entire rainbow of color he’d been missing. It was beautiful.

Emile bit his lip, if the glasses weren’t working totally a direct command would likely set off alarms for him which would set him back unnecessarily. But he needed to do a basic test. He took a deep breath, here goes nothing, “I wish you would apologize for being so difficult Janus, your behavior towards me and other people has not been appropriate.”

Without even thinking about it Janus said, “I’m sorry for being so difficult doctor.” He blinked a few times afterwards, wondering why he’d said that.

Emile smiled, it seemed like everything was working well. “I hope that means it won’t happen again, I’d like to have a civilized conversation with you and I think you’d prefer it that way too.” Janus bobbed his head in agreement. 

“So, let’s start again, I’m Emile and I’ll be your helping hand for this evening.”

Janus smiled, it really did seem obvious now, how little the doctor had wanted in return for him just trying to be better than he was yesterday, it was so much better to stop resisting the new world that had opened up to him.

“Janus. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”


	6. I'm the hero!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one's rough boys, day 7 for unsymptober whoop!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: Unsymp Roman, it's a superhero au, the darksides are 'villains' but not really, 2 Major character deaths.

Roman paced the floor of the Super Apartment Complex (Sac), each step seemed to make him more and more irritated, “How how HOW did they escape again? What are the walls of those prisons made of? Tissue paper?” 

Patton shrugged, “It’s not a big deal, they haven’t done anything so far and if they do we can stop them!”

“It’s not like their crimes are a massive deal anyway,” Logan added, “Their biggest crimes so far are,” he flipped through several papers, “Disturbance of the peace, graffiti, breaking out of jail... Littering?” 

Roman clapped his hands in time,”A crime. Is. A. Crime! And we can’t just let them keep getting away with it. Right now it’s littering yes, but how long until littering becomes poisoning our oceans or trying to take over the world!”

“That seems a bit... Much? Kiddo they’re just a group of trouble makers-”

Roman took a deep breath, “You’re right... You’re right I just- if things get worse and we didn’t do anything to stop it-”

Patton put a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, it’s okay, we’ll defeat them no problem! 

Roman makes a last ditch effort to convince the others that they needed to go further, harder on the villains, “If someone dies and it’s because we gave them the benefit of the doubt than it’ll be our fault. We-We can’t let that happen!”

Patton wrapped his arms around Roman and he felt a burst of warmth and hope rush through him. Patton’s power, Emotion-sharing. He tried to shove down the knot of guilt in his stomach for what he was planning, but of course Patton felt it.

“Oh Roman, there’s no need to feel guilty. I promise we’ll never let them get that far.” Roman’s shoulder’s fell with relief at Patton’s promise. 

Roman shuffled, “Yeah. Right.” He turned away from the group. He knew he wasn’t going to convince them that this was a good idea, they didn’t see the trio as a credible threat. But Roman knew better, he remembered the terrifying illusions his brother created when they were children- there was no chance that this group wasn’t as evil as he was and one day they’d go over the edge.

He wasn’t going to let that happen. 

He needed to go to the house of the group’s leader: The man with a silver tongue.

\------------------------------------------

Janus sat in his living room when his boyfriend was teleported into his house. “Oh nooo! You’ve caught me in the middle of me scheming.” 

The brown haired man leaned forward and wrapped his arms over Janus’s shoulders, kissing him on the cheek, “What are you working on?”

Janus smiled up at him, “The most terrifying crime of all: Loitering.” 

His partner laughed, “You and Virgil are going to stare at Hot Topic outfits forlornly again aren’t you?”

Janus sighed dreamily, “Jeans expensive enough to make me consider actual thievery.” For that he got a gentle but disapproving nudge.

“Don’t, you’re in enough trouble already with the law.” 

As if on cue there was a knock on the door, Janus gave him one last peck on the lips, “We’ll continue this later.”

His partner moved to take Janus’s place on the couch, “Don’t keep me waiting.” He gave a finger wave.

There weren’t many things that frightened Janus at this point. Between Remus’s weird illusion abilities and life there were very few ways to frighten Janus. 

Having a bayonet pointed at his chest was apparently one of them. 

Out of habit he spoke with his Silver Tongue, “Hey, put that down, what’s with the hostility?” His breath hitched as point was pushed closer to his pounding chest. 

“Silence fiend, I have my headphones in. Your words have no effect on me.” 

His boyfriend peered his head around the corner, “What’s all the ruckus abo-” He stopped and his eyes widened when he saw what was going on.

Janus manages a sheepish smile, “Come join the party babe.” 

Instead of responding he took a step forward, squinting as if he couldn’t quite believe what was going on, “Roman?” 

Roman lowered his bayonet for a second, “Patton? You- You’ve been working with him?!”

“No, Roman it’s not- please put that down so we can talk about this.” Patton pleaded with him.

Roman shook his head, “Traitor! No wonder you were so eager to defend them.” He turned back to Janus, “How long have you been dating huh? Weeks? Months? Years? How many crimes of yours has he hidden from us?”

Janus shook his head, “None.”

“LIAR!” He turned his bayonette from one to the other, “Both of you- you just wanted to trick me- to use me for the sake of your own stupid little games. You put everyone at risk!”

Patton took a step forward, “Roman, please listen to us.”

“No, no I can’t- I won’t let you all ruin the world for my conscience. I have to,” He took a shuddering breath, “I have to.” He closed his eyes, “I can’t let you-”

Bang  
Roman didn’t mean to hit him. But he’s the one that got shot. Janus leaned down towards him, using his silver tongue to whisper that they were going to call someone, that Patton was going to stay strong and wouldn’t die.

Roman’s hands shaked, he’d just killed- no Janus. Janus made him do this. If he hadn’t been a criminal, if Patton hadn’t been dating him- he must have used his silver tongue to convince him to run in front of that bullet. Yes, that was the only thing that made sense. 

“You killed him.” He whispered. 

Janus turned to him and shook his head, “No, you-”

Bang  
And so the day ended, a tragic case of a villain mind controlling a hero into doing his bidding. It was a terrible loss on the case of Patton but it had to be done. Everyone would be safer now. The true heroes brave and powerful saved the day.

But there were still villains out there to be defeated, and a true heroes work never ends. He moved on to where rumors had it Virgil was hiding out...


	7. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Unsympathetic Logan, Roman angst, toxic Logince, physical abuse, choking, implied financial abuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Unsympathetic Logan, Roman angst, toxic Logince, physical abuse, choking, implied financial abuse  
> This one's weird, it has a happy ending at least lol

There were good times with Logan, which is why this was so hard. When Logan was sweet he was the sweetest. The two of them could talk for hours about Gravity Falls or the X-files, making stories about what happened after the fact or building on worlds. There were times when they could just read together, or he'd give Roman a thoughtful gift. He couldn't help but glance at his tragedy-comedy necklace...

But there were the bad times, Logan had a temper. He'd never admit he had a temper, when Roman mentioned it they had a fight where Logan very rationally and sensibly kicked him in the shin. He hated Roman's career, he mocked his acting and insisted that he try to get a 'real job' where he could make money. He called him irrational often, but Roman couldn't imagine anything more irrational than when Logan slapped him for calling him a bully during a fight. He rubbed the back of his neck, a scar where the chain of his necklace had dug into his skin when Logan tried to pull it off of him in anger claiming that he paid for it so it's really his. He took a deep breath, he couldn't stay here anymore, he couldn't spend the rest of his life terrified of Logan's wrath just to keep those far too short moments in between. He had Remus on speedial in case anything went wrong.

He clenched and unclenched the bag that held his belongings and knocked on his future ex's door.

"Logan, I'm leaving." It was a simple, short line to the slightly shorter man in front of him. The minute it was said he felt as if a weight had left his shoulders.

Logan nodded, "Okay. Put down the bag."

Roman blinked, that was not what he expected, "What?"

"You want to break off contact with me, that bag and all of the things inside of it were bought with my money. It only makes sense that you'd break contact with my things." He raised an eyebrow, "Unless you're planning on starting your new life by stealing from me."

Roman shook his head, "It's my stuff, you said-" if he put down the bag he'd lose everything, his clothes, his toothbrush... Even his soap!

"That was then, this is now." Logan stepped forward, eyes narrowed behind his glasses, "Put it down now or I'll call the police and have you arrested as the theif you are. You have nothing because you're an irresponsible, spoiled, childish person. The sooner you come to your senses and realize that, the sooner you can move on and become the homeless wanna be actor that you've always dreamed of being."

Roman could see that despite the cold, cool tone in his voice his eyes were growing more intense with rage. He felt his heart pound in his chest, he knew how this ended, with Logan slapping him for being an idiot and him appologizing and begging him to take him back-

He refused to let that be the ending. He pressed 5 on his phone and moved to try to run-

Only to feel a hand pressed against his throat. "Don't. Move." His voice was low and dark like a growing storm, the necklace dug itself into his skin, "if you move one muscle I will not hesitate to squeeze your life out."

Roman forced himself to not struggle and just focus on forcing air into his lungs and clinging to the bag, his knuckles turning white with effort.

"Put down the bag. Now."

Roman's breathing was shallow and weak, he closed his eyes hoping that this breath wouldn't be his last-

He got lucky.

Thank God Remus carries a baseball bat with nails in his trunk. His house was kind if messy, Roman did his share of the chores. But even with the stinky clothes and weird rainbow of stains that littered the appartment, every day felt like a better day than any one moment with Logan.


	8. The Box

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw unsympathetic Logan, I don't know what other tags there might be so tell me!

In Thomas's room there was a box. It was full of old toys that Thomas played with, older memories from his childhood. Patton called it 'The happy box' because it was full of things that made Thomas and himself happy. 

And Logan hated it. 

Not because it made them happy, happiness was fine for Thomas. He guessed. But because it served no purpose and added clutter to Thomas's room, but Patton couldn't see that. He couldn't see how useless hoarding was going to be detrimental to Thomas in a long run. If he had a date over they would not only see the clutter of the box, but also how stupidly childish and sentimental Thomas was. 

Of course Patton would be upset for a while, he attached so many emotions to these objects, it would be impossible to convince him to give them up. So he waited until it was late at night, when the only other person who'd be awake was Virgil. 

"We've checked the closet and under the bed. We've confirmed that the strange shape on the chair is not an apearition and in fact never is. It's always Thomas's dirty laundry and never once has a creature or person stolen us away in the middle of the night. Thomas has a long day ahead of him Virgil and he needs his rest." 

With the Anxious side out of his way he finally had a chance to talk to Thomas one-on-one without fear of distraction.

"That chest brings far much more trouble than it does good. Remember when you banged your toe on it last week? It's clutter."

Thomas rubbed his eyes and sat up, "Logan, I get that you don't get it but... The stuff in there is important to me. That chest has everything from my childhood-"

"A childhood that has been long over Thomas," Logan straightened his tie, "it's ridiculous to be so attached to these things at your age."

Thomas sighed and layed back on his pillow, "Can't we talk about this in the morning Lo?"

Logan shook his head, that wouldn't do at all. Patton would shut down the entire conversation with his talk about feelings and ignore the facts of the matter. ANd the facts of the matter were, "You need to get rid of that thing as soon as possible. It's weighing you down and stopping you from being a full adult." He let his eyes change and gain a dark blue glow, connecting Thomas completely to himself and his will. He held Thomas's hands, "It's time to let go."

Logan wasn't a fan of bending Thomas to his will but sometimes it was necessary to help him see the right path to go down. Yes Patton wailed and cried when he found Thomas's treasures gone and Roman yelled at him for throwing away the first drawing he'd ever created and Virgil seemed more anxious now that there weren't any stuffed animals for him to hold when the world felt too large and scary. But those feelings would pass and eventually they'd see what a smart, rational decision this was and apologize to him for overreacting. 

He sat in his room and waited, but they never came.

So he went to them, asking one by one when they'd be ready to apologize.

"I-I'm not sure. You- that was a really rotten thing you did Logan. And I don't think I want to apologize."

"You think I'M the one who needs to apologize?! And I thought I was supposed to be the dillusional side. N-o. Never!"

"You knew we wouldn't go along with you and you tricked us. That's not okay Logan and I think you owe us an apology really."

Logan fummed in his room after he talked to Virgil. He didn't owe them anything! Why couldn't they see he only wanted what-

"What's best for Thomas?"

Logan turned his head to see the half-snake side standing by his closet looking at his ties.

"I know the feeling." He paced around the room. The way he looked at Logan unnerved him slightly.

"What are you doing in here?"

Janus snorted, "I didn't hear your thoughts from down the hall, what do you take me for?" He mlemed, "Some sort of sneaky snake?"

"Get out."

Janus put his hand to his temple, "Oh the tragedy and here I was hoping you'd be willing to listen to my advice."

Logan scoffed but Janus continued, "I've never thought I knew what was best for Thomas and had it blow up in my face. And really the best thing you should do in this kind of situation is sit and pout about it until everyone coddles you into thinking you did nothing wrong. It's definately a good way to maintain healthy relationships insead of apologizing."

Logan glared at the snake, "I don't need your lectures."

Janus rolled his human eye, "Riiiiight."

"I'm nothing like you!" He shouted. 

Janus gave a one handed sallute and sunk out of his room. 

Logan was alone.

And it was everyone's fault but his.


	9. Insomnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> U!Remus and bruising are this chapters only tw!

Thomas's knees wobbled, how long had it been since he got a good night's sleep? All he knew was that every shadow looked like a creature ready to bite his face off and Remy had been gone for what felt like ages. He went to lay in bed, knowing that it’d probably end with him staring at his phone and scrolling through Tumblr again. 

He was happily surprised when the top of his phone was pressed down, turning it off. 

Remy looked at him, half through his shades, “Hey babe. Miss me? You look like ass.”

Thomas couldn’t help himself and wrapped his arms around Remy, “Oh thank God you’re back. Can I sleep now?” He couldn’t help how whiny his voice sounded. He was practically begging.

Remy pushed him off, than looked around his room, “In this dump? Pu-leeze. I can’t just give you something for nothing. Clean up a bit and maybe I’ll think about it.”

Thomas sighed and got up, he walked like a baby dear over to his light switch. He had to admit, his room was a bit of a mess. Logan had been pestering him about that laundry for a few days now, so he threw that into the washer, adjusted the posters on his wall because apparently the direction they were tilted pissed Remy off, and finally made his bed and fluffed his pillow. 

He closed his eyes, ready to drift to sleep.

Remy tapped a black-nail polished finger against his chin, “Nah, still don’t feel it. Light me some candles or something.” Thomas took a breath in and out.

“I don’t have any candles left.”

Remy poked his chest, “Then go to the store and buy me some!” Thomas made a few whiny noises in the back of his throat and Remy only rolled his eyes, “Don’t be such a little bitch. God if I knew you were going to be like this I wouldn’t have come back.”

Thomas shook his head, “No! No, don’t go, I’ll just... See whatever they have at the Rite Aid and bring those back.” A few minutes later and Thomas was in the Rite Aid, trying to find out where they would even keep candles. He went to the miscellaneous section and found a candle that claimed to help people with muscle problems. He gave a loud yawn, with the way his body ached it might be worth the 25 dollars-

“Is that a stuffed bear?” Remy squealed, “Oh I want that too!”

Thomas sighed and picked up the bear, an extra 10 dollars. Great. At least he should be able to-

“We’re sleeping here.” 

Thomas blinked a few times, “Wh-”

“You’re going to sleep right here or you’re not sleeping at all.” Remy snapped his fingers and Thomas felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. He really did want to go to sleep... He pressed his hand against the floor tile... So nice and cold...

“Uh sir?” Of course one of the two people who worked here had to find him, “Are you okay?” 

Thomas’s eyes widened, oh- this was embarrassing. 

“You have to say something-” A half-awake Virgil hissed in his ear.

“I’m fine!” Thomas squeaked, his face turned a bright red, “No need to call anyone, I’m just- super, super tired-”

The worker snorted, “I can see that... You’re sure you don’t need help?”

Thomas nodded, “Yep! Yeah. I’m actually going to check out now.”

Remy was irritated, and Virgil was lecturing Thomas the entire way back about how he could never go to that Rite Aid again because of the possibility that the one worker would see them again and verbally massacre them. Thomas put his head against his steering wheel. He didn’t even want to go back to his room. He just wanted to sleep. He looked at Remy hopelessly. Who flipped him off in response. 

He took a breath and started to walk up the steps of his apartment, with every step he felt more and more awake as his feet dragged across the concrete. Remy floated behind him, sipping a Starbucks drink.

“Damn, watching you try is kinda sad. Like watching a baby deer but one of their legs is broken so they can’t stop falling.” He thinks for a second, “Hilarious though too. You’re always like, 5 seconds from falling on your ass... I could get used to watching this.”

Thomas rubbed his eyes, trying to keep them from falling shut, “Please don’t. I just... I just want to sleep.”

Remy grinned mischievously, “Oh? Do you?” He snapped his fingers and for a good second Thomas fell asleep. He blinked back awake when his arm hit the railing of the stairway hard enough to bruise. He cursed loudly than covered his arm. 

Remy cackled, “Oh my God, you really are desperate to sleep huh? That was hilarious!”

Thomas rolled his eyes, “Glad my pain is funny to you.”

Remy put his head in his hands, “Oh endlessly.”

Finally Thomas reached the door of his apartment. He grabbed his lighter and lit the candle, than layed in bed with his stuffed animal. Remy moved to lay next to him... Then sat up.

“When was the last time you checked your Twitter anyway.” 

Thomas groaned and put a pillow over his face, “Before I left. I’m sure I can do that in the morning and not miss much.” 

Remy hummed, “Mmm, no. You’re going to do it now or you’re not going to sleep for real tonight.” 

Luckily for Thomas, there were very few people messaging him at 3 AM... Unluckily-

“Anyway, I’m outta here.” Remy finger-waved at him.

“Are-Are you fucking me?”

Remy shrugged, “You should have just let yourself sleep in the Rite Aid like I told you babe, next time, maybe try listening to me.”

Thomas groaned, “I couldn’t just- Remy not sleeping for this long is going to mess with me.”

Remy poked his nose, “Not my problem. And honestly you’ve been so whiny tonight, don’t know when I’ll wanna come back. Maybe you should get messed with a little if you’re going to be so shitty.” He gave peace fingers and vanished.

Thomas sighed and starred at the ceiling for the rest of the night.


	10. A Captured Duke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one probably isn't my best I'm gonna be real... It's also the one most likely to get a sequel because I made up some lore ideas that I'm fairly fond of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unsympathetic Roman, Unsympathetic Patton (mention)

Remus panted, his clothes were more of a wreck than usual, covered in stains from dirt and brambles he had run into. He tried not to think about how long he'd been running, but he couldn't help but notice that he'd left as the sun set and now the sun was starting to rise again.

His muscles ached with effort, and he stumbled over his feet. He couldn't keep running like this, the sound of horses had died down ages ago but their ear-splitting clomps still echoed in his brain. If he stopped there was the possibility that he could get caught. He cursed Patton's name, turning his own brother against him, convincing Roman that his best move would be to try to take over his kingdom and 'control him.' The idea was laughable, they couldn't control him in a million years! He was chaos incarnate!

But the idea of spending even an hour in Roman's dungeons with the worst villains he'd created was... Fairly unpleasant to say the least. 

If he kept running though- he tripped over a stray root and bit his tongue to stop himself from screaming too loudly. The back of his thigh was begging for relief and it was hard to deny his body its wants. 

He sighed and listened for the sound of running water. He perked up- that couldn’t have been further than 2- no it was only a mile away! He walked towards the stream and then down a path and low and behold a small village, people bustled around and sold their wares, barely noticing the disheveled former Duke.

With one exception. A small child walked up to him and gave a bow low enough to see the curly tops of his hair.

“Greetings your high-”

Remus slammed his hand over the child’s mouth, “NOPE!” How the hell did this kid recognize him by appearance alone? Most of Roman’s people only knew him by his terrifying playful slime beasts or the blood soaked zombies he occasionally sent to terrorize them.

The child squealed, “I’m your biggest fan! I love the blood and gore and everything!”

Remus pressed a hand to his heart, touched. One of Roman’s creations was a fan of his. There was a small part of him that saw a hope in that, but he shook it off. “Since you’re such a big fan of mine, do you think you could give me a place to stay?”

The child squealed with delight and led him down the streets. A few times Remus swore he’d caught something familiar in the corner of his eyes but he dismissed it as paranoia.

He laughed with the child’s family.

They ate food.

They slept together in a soft huddle.

He could get used to it honestly

He woke up to swords in their faces and knights surrounding them with Prince Roman at its head. He wondered how long he’d waited among the people for him. The child yelled in his defense, insisting that they let Remus go but he was ignored and held back by his parents. Remus was dragged through the streets, a sign of strength to Roman’s people. The villain had finally been defeated.


	11. Fading away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsympathetic Character Thomas, no other warnings I'm pretty sure

“Everything has a purpose, and you’re denying yours.”

The words echoed through his head as Roman hid his left hand behind his back. Sides couldn’t die, but they could fade. If Thomas didn’t want a side or saw them as a negative aspect of himself they’d become a Dark Side, but seeing a thing as negative and seeing it as unimportant were two different things. If something’s negative, it can still exist, but if it’s unimportant...

It fades from view. 

He bit his lip, how to hide this, how to hide this! He couldn’t let the others know he was fading; Patton would feel guilty and Logan would stare at him for far too long and Virgil-  
There was a knock on the door, “I could hear you panicking from down the hall.” The low, quiet voice of Virgil, “What’s going on?”

He gave a loud yelp, “None of your business Para-moron!” Oh shoot, that was needlessly mean, “Wait, no I didn’t mean it like that. I just, need to be by myself right now.” 

There was a pause that was far too long for his comfort, what broke it was far worse. “I’m going to call a group meeting.”

“What? No-” But before he could say a word he felt himself being pulled up into Thomas’s living room. He quickly pulled his hand behind his back. He gave a loud groan. “Virgil I told you I’m fine.” 

Virgil shook his head, “Thomas, how’re you feeling right now?” He squints, “Do you feel like anything’s wrong?”

Thomas blinked, confused, “No? What’s going on?”

“Roman’s been acting weird since the wedding.”

“What! Pssh, no I haven’t!”

Apparently Logan saw this as the perfect time to rise up, “On the contrary, you haven’t left your room since Patton turned into-”

And of course Patton rose up, “DON’T.” He cleared his throat, “I mean, I would rather we put that entire situation behind us and uh, never talk about it again? Please?” His voice rose with every word in desperation. 

Logan shrugged, “The point is, Roman’s behavior is very.” He took out a notecard, “Sus.”

Roman waved his arms, “Come on guys, just because I’ve been a bit quieter- why are you all looking at me like that?” 

Patton’s voice shook, “Roman, where’s your hand?”

Virgil’s breath was quickening, he eyeshadow darkening, “He- no he- Roman’s too important to.” He looked at Roman with a mixture of horror and sadness, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Logan just stared at him silently, his face unreadable.

“Guys, it’s not that big of a deal.” 

“Not that big of a deal?!” Patton looked like he was on the brink of tears, “Roman you’re fading.” 

Thomas cocked his head, “What’s going on?”

Logan took a deep breath, “Allow me to expand on what Patton said,” Roman let himself zone out as he explained what exactly fading was to Thomas. He knew this would happen. But it was going better than he expected, everyone was unnecessarily frightened but things could go far worse.

“I don’t care.” 

The three sides stared at Thomas as he said the three words Roman had feared the most.

“Kiddo, what do you mean-”

Thomas shrugged, “I just... I don’t really need such an intense sense of passion and creativity anymore. I mean, they’re helpful sometimes but I don’t know, I really just don’t need him around anymore.”

Roman felt a tingle running up his arm and into his torso, he also felt tears start to build up in his eyes, “You can’t mean that Thomas. I’ve- I’ve been an important part of you since childhood.”

“Things change.”

Roman closed his eyes, he guessed that was it then. He was going to fade. He might love Thomas but he only felt apathy towards him. Maybe this was for the best, maybe things should change. The world faded to black.

He didn’t expect the world to turn light again but it did, a dark shadow loomed over him with a wide-toothy grin. “Evening brother.” Remus purred, “I hope you don’t mind me dropping in right then.”

Roman sighed and turned away, “There was no point in saving me just then. Thomas doesn’t need me anymore... I’m going to fade.”

Remus rubbed his brow, “I forgot how easily you gave in to self-loathing bullshit. Listen, the only dead men I save are members of my zombie horde. Which means you’re alive. And we’re going to convince that idiot that you’re worth keeping around...” For a split second his face looks contemplative but it’s gone before Roman can really decide how sincere it is, “No matter what it takes.”


	12. To kill a beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsympathetic Patton, Sympathetic Roman, Sympathetic Remus, Sympathetic Janus, medieval Au.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was for day 14's prompt Monster. I'm super behind cause of life stuff RIP

Roman Goldstern took a deep breath as King Patton Riverton put a hand on his shoulder. Ever since he was little he'd been told stories about his destiny, to slay the mighty best that stole his brother. Now he was donned in armor and prepared to leave home.

"Remember, the snake has a silver tongue, ready to strike at your vulnerabilities at any second." Patton said, "He will try to convince you of his goodness, but remember, he is nothing but a terrifying beast."

Roman gave a hearty laugh, "You've told me a million times Pat-Pat. Trust me 

Patton rubbed his hands, " Yeah, I know. I'm just worried for you kiddo."

Roman's smile was as dazzling as a million suns, "You worry too much, by the wings of Pegasus I swear I will destroy that beast and protect our people!"

Patton kissed the top of his head and whispered, "Go get em tiger."

Roman rode his white horse to the tower, his sense of justice held his hand steady as he slowly crept up the rickety staircase, the wood was old and he gently pressed a toe against sections to make sure that he didn’t cause any of them to creek. Eventually he arrived in front of the beast. A snake wrapped its body around the frame of the room, its head sat in the center of its coiled body as it slept. Roman took out his sword and ran it through the closest big of flesh he could find.

The snake’s head tilted back as it gave a loud scream of pain, there was a bright yellow glow and the creature- no it wasn’t a creature anymore. It was a man? A man with a half-snake face clutching the bottom of his foot as he bled. That-that wasn’t supposed to happen. The man-beast was crying- he wasn’t supposed to do that!

The man looked at him with fire in his slit-pupils. “Did you come here to stab me in the foot and stare at my pathetic state?”

Roman stammered, “No, I-uh... You’re not a snake.”

The man snorted, “How observant of you.” He closed his eyes, “If you’re not going to kill me, can you get gauze or something. This kind of injury will get infected easily otherwise and it’s the least you can do.”

Roman nodded and took off his shirt, “Right, right, sorry- I didn’t...” What was he talking about, he did mean it. Destiny? Avenging his brother? What happened to that-

As if on cue a man walked into the room, “Hey, I heard a TON of noise up here. Either Jan-Jan’s fighting someone or someone’s dead. Either way I wanna join!”

Roman turned around, that voice, it was slightly lower but he’d recognize it anywhere. “Remus?” He shakes his head, “No, no you’re dead!”

Janus snorted, “Really? Someone should have told me. I would go back to making dinner for one.”

Remus blinked than cocked his head, thinking. He walked up to Roman, who was still slightly shocked by even seeing his brother. Remus bit his arm. 

“OW!”

Remus grinned cheerfully, “Yay! I’m not a ghost! But if J-anus keeps bleeding out he probably will be! I’m going to go wrap him up.” Roman rubbed his arm, he felt the small bumps that came with Remus’s bites. Hard enough to hurt a bit, but never hard enough to bleed. That was Remus all right.

“Why would Patton lie to me? He said you- you were a beast who killed Remus-”

Janus looked at him from behind Remus as he tied a gauze to his foot. 

“Maybe this will clear things up a bit.” Remus finished right on time for Janus to stand up.

“My name is Janus Riverton. I’m the rightful heir to the throne, cast out after meddling with,” he touched the side of his face, “Unconventional magic. The only threat currently to Patton’s throne.” He held out his hand, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Roman held out his hand, “Roman Goldstern. Former knight.” 

Destiny or no, Roman would not kill an innocent for his king.


	13. Mr. Sandman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> U!Remy, Sympathetic Roman

Remy peered over the doorway, the prince was lounging on his throne. Per usual. He took a small handful of sand from his bag. Things were going a bit too well in the mindscape; it was time to sew a little chaos. He walked over to Roman, hand behind his back. He huffed when Roman didn’t notice him and leaned over him so he was blocking the light. 

He looked over him and winked, “Hey babe, you seem like you’re in a good mood.”

Roman gave a soft sigh looking at the ceiling, “Oh Remy, a ray of golden sunlight has made its way through the torrent of rain that has been the last few days!” He sat up and gestured towards the sky, “Lo, a beauty has entered that would make Aphrodite jealous!”

Remy snorted, “Did you find a mirror again?”

Roman adjusted himself on the chair to sit up and cross his arms, “No, Nico, oh I could say his name every second and still never tire of it’s sound! NicoNicoNicoNicoNico!” He gave a loud squeal, “His personalities lovely too as far as I know, I mean, we only met one time and you can’t tell everything about a person from-”

Remy put his empty hand on Roman’s shoulder, “Roman, darling... I literally don’t care.” 

Roman looked at the ground and shuffled, “Oh, sorry I guess.” Remy could feel the sadness in his eyes even though he was avoiding eye contact. It was like talking to a wounded puppy, geeze.

“Don’t be like that, so stormcloud’s got nothing to say about all of this?” If he could play with Anxiety to give Thomathy a few nightmares here and there about the whole thing... Honestly it’d be hilarious just to watch their whole world burn down like that. Totally popcorn worthy.

“Oh no, well, yes, sort of?” Roman shrugged, “He was the one who really got Thomas to make the first move and be honest with Nico about his feelings. But he seemed really iffy during the entire thing and I think he’s worried about how it’s going to turn out.”

Remy hummed, he could work with that, but of course Roman kept talking. Remy wasn’t sure Roman knew how to stop talking, “I say that a beast may destroy our kingdom despite our fight, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t- you know- fight! Fight for our kingdom! Our kingdom of love!”

Remy sighed, “You’re like, way too optimistic. This thing’s going to crash and burn.” He held out two fists, “Pick a hand.” 

Roman cocked his head, that sure was a subject change, “Wh-”

Before he could really comprehend what was happening, black dust was blown in his face. He closed his eyes in reflex and coughed, there were a few seconds where he seemed to panic, but slowly the dust settled in and he fell asleep. Remy poured the rest of his sand back in his bag, Now that that was over with, the real show could begin...


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> U!Virgil, disproportionate retribution, Sympathetic Remus, preteen!Sides, Sympathetic Janus, Questionable Patton, blood, bad ending

Remus was bored. He felt like he’d been in his room for hours while Janus was helping Thomas from the sidelines. He hated that he wasn’t even allowed to wonder without him anymore in case he messed anything up. He’d sang every limerick he knew and made some of his own. He’d cleaned and dirtied and cleaned again. He’d screamed and kicked and punched the walls and no one had responded. He thought for a few seconds, wondering if he could still sink in and out of his room. He closed his eyes and thought about Thomas-

He opened his eyes and gave a squeal of delight when he saw him. He’d have to be quick about this. He grabbed crawled onto Thomas’s bed and grabbed him by both shoulders, shaking him for a few seconds to wake him out, shouting his name until he looked up at him with bleary eyes. 

Remus grinned like a horror-movie slasher, “Say Thomas, you know what would be a great idea?~”

It was supposed to be a prank, it was funny! It wasn’t like Thomas’s brother actually got hurt, freaked out by the doll and flickering light, but not actually hurt! Yet here he was, watching through the screens at Thomas’s mother scolded him. There was a word, a really mean one he remembered hearing someone saying when they wanted to call someone mean. 

A short pop out couldn’t hurt. 

He appeared in front of Thomas, “SAY SHE’S BEING AN ASS!” His mouth was immediately covered by his own hand. He turned around to glare at Janus who shrugged. 

“Run, run upstairs to your room NOW.” Virgil hissed in Thomas’s ear.

“He can’t do that! He needs to be listening to his mother right now and taking in what she’s telling him.” Of course Patton would rise up at this moment, “Walking away right now would be inappropriate. In fact, we need to listen to him right-” Patton blinked, “What are they doing here? They’re all... Vapory so Thomas hasn’t recognized them yet-”

Virgil’s eyes widened, “YOU.” 

Remus wanted to shout, “ME!” Back, but the hand over his mouth stopped him.

Janus took a deep breath, “We’re sorry for bothering you all, it appears like I need to keep closer watch over Remus,” 

“Yeah, you think!” Virgil shouted, Patton held onto Virgil’s shoulder.

“It’s okay kiddo, it was probably an accident.”

Janus nodded in a agreement, “I’ll take care of him-”

Virgil made a noise half-way between a laugh and a growl, “Oh, I think you’ve ‘took care of him’ more than enough Deceit.” He spat his name like a curse, “I think it’s time for me to take care of him for a while.”

Remus had never been around Virgil by himself, but the concept made his skin crawl. He could feel the feet of ants running up and down his arms and legs-

Janus stood between Remus and Virgil, "No!" He cleared his throat and straightened himself, "I told you, I have this handled. He will not influence Thomas again." 

Virgil growled, "That's what you said last time! And now look where we are." 

Patton shuffled, "Not to take sides here, but I think Virgil has a bit of a point... Maybe he could just watch over him for like, a week or so, a trial run to see if he can take care of him. And if anything goes wrong, he can go back to you." He clapped his hands, "Sounds good?"

Janus sighed, he knew he wasn't going to win this. Remus shook his head, no this wasn't happening, they weren't just going to take him away-

But seconds later and Remus found himself in Virgil's room. Virgil walked around him, stalking him like a predator on the prowl.

"You have been nothing but a thorn in our side since your creation." Remus felt something nick at his finger, he looked at his hand, confused when he saw his own blood. He didn't think anything touched him. 

"You hurt Thomas," a harsher slash against his hand, "You make MY job harder because I have to make sure he doesn't do anything that will get him in trouble. And unlike Janus, I'm not going to go easy on you."

"You're terrible!"

Slash

"All you ever do is hurt people and get the whole in trouble."

Slash

"Do you want to know the real reason Roman split from you?" Virgil gave a dark chuckle and leaned over Remus as he whimpered, "it's because he realized how worthless you are. You're a plague on Thomas's mind." Remus clenched his chest, a harsh jagged cut formed across his chest blood poored out like honey from a bottle. 

"Luckily," Virgil said with a smirk, "Patton decided to let me have you. Hopefully that will help me mitigate the damage that you do." He snickered as Remus let out a pathetic whine. 

"You're an ass." Remus growled, trying to struggle his way to his feet. His legs wobbled but he wasn't sure whether it was due to pain or fear. "And the others won't... Janus won't let you-" 

Virgil shook his head, "He already has Remus. He and Patton agreed to let me have you, do you think they're so stupid that they don't know what that means? They don't care about you."

Remus growled, "Forget it than I'll stop you! I won't let you hurt me!"

Virgil snorted and pushed Remus onto his bed, "Good luck with that. The locks of my doors are on the outside.And sinking in and out of my room requires not feeling fear."

He walked to the door, "And the latter will be far harder than you think." He closed the door and Remus heard the small click of a lock turning.

That's when the wall's started closing in.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsympathetic Roman, Sympathetic Janus, Toxic roceit, emotional manipulation, physical abuse, blood

"How many lies have you told today?" Roman's voice was soft and gentle as the blanket that laid on top of them both.

Janus closed his eyes and gave a long sigh, "How long are we going to do this?" The first deal had been a month ago. He'd been stupid, he had finally admitted that he had feelings for Roman and asked him out on a date. Maybe it was just too soon after he messed up for him to do that, maybe Roman had just always been like this and he'd missed it through his gold-tinted vision of the prince.

Roman starred into the distance, thinking for a second, "Until you mean it." He cupped the human side of Janus's face in his hands and he couldn't help the way his heart still fluttered at the moment or the shiver of delight that went down his spine. "You can't play with my feelings Deceit, I won't let you."

Janus sighed, Roman still refused to call him by his name, "Then why stay? You could leave right now-should leave if you think I'll hurt you. Part of caring for yourself is recognizing when someone's hurting you and getting away from them."

Roman chuckled, "The problem is," he kissed Janus's forehead, "I love you too much for that and... I want to make us work but to do that I need you to be an honest, good person."

Janus felt tears in his eyes, less because of what Roman had said and more because he knew what was coming. “I’m trying, you have to believe that I’m trying. It’s not easy though, there are so many reasons to lie and so many ways to do it.” He buried his head into Roman’s chest only to be yanked up by his hair making him flinch.

Like the tides after a storm his hand turned to a warm pat, Janus pulled back slightly, but Roman pulled him closer.

“You’re trying to manipulate me, snake.” He wiped a tear from Janus’s eyes that he hadn’t even realized had fallen, “Though with those tears I should probably call you a crocodile. I’m not stupid anymore.”

Janus tried to swallow back his tears, there was a certain art to stopping emotional tears from falling when they insisted on doing so, it took a sense of control over his body that he spent years learning.

Roman gave a small smile when the tears stopped falling, “Thank you. I hate having to repeat myself but it seems like you don’t quite remember the question. How many lies-”

“9″

“Are you counting just now?”

Janus swallowed, he knew that wasn’t a lie. He could cry on command but there was a sense of control over that when it happened, “That wasn’t a lie, so no.”

Roman’s eyes narrowed than he held Janus’s hand in his own, “You know I’m doing this for us right? Inside you I see the second most handsome prince in the world, it’s in your human side.” He rubbed circles into Janus’s knuckles and he closed his eyes relaxing, “It’s marvelous, with the smooth nature of a precious gem, your eye is a smoky quartz with hints of shadow in its dark brown depths.” He kissed over Janus’s brow and he flushed. “When you flush you’re the color of a cherry and your kisses are just as succulent and sweet.” 

Janus closed his eyes, letting the words wash over him. Roman had a way with words beyond even his own skillset, he was the side who could build mountains with the stroke of a brush, a sentence could build a world and a word could convince him that he really did return his feelings.

“How many times did you lie today?”

“12″ 

9 to others but 3 to himself.

Roman took one last second to stroke the human side of Janus’s face before moving on to the scaled one. The scales on his face had the texture and nature of a human nail, they were smooth but tough. Roman slowly lifted one upwards, Janus’s shoulder’s rose and he shuddered with pain. His mouth opened and he gave a habitual hiss at Roman, even though some part of him knew that he wouldn’t actually attack Roman. 

Even after he tore out the first scale of the night. Janus gave a loud scream as his nerve endings lit aflame he dared to touch the part of his face where it came from, the remaining skin felt raw and harsh and he cringed away from his own touch. His hand was covered with blood from his face, he took a moment to glance up through watery eyes and saw Roman holding one of his yellow-green scales, bits of skin hung off the end, clinging to a body it was no longer a part of.

Roman pulled him close, making quiet hushing noises, “The first one of the night’s always hardest on you isn’t it? Your face usually numbs by the third.” He held him there for a few seconds, under his breath Janus heard him whisper, “Your real tears are like diamonds, precious and rare. I would give the world to keep you.”

Janus didn’t let himself think about it too much, the idea that Roman enjoyed hurting him because it allowed him to force Janus to show emotions he knew were real. He didn’t let himself think of much of anything for the rest of the night except for the kind words Roman said to him earlier. Words he could drown in for the rest of time.


	16. One More Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsympathetic Emile, misuse of therapeutic practices, emotional manipulation

Unsympathetic Emile, misuse of therapeutic practices, emotional manipulation  
Virgil's hand shook as he waited in the chair outside of Doctor Picani's office. He hated meeting new people, and meeting a new therapist was far worse than meeting other people. This was a person who he was paying to help him deal with his emotional and mental issues. He felt his leg starting to bounce beneath his hand. This was fine, he could do this.

A man in a grey sweater walked in, "Virgil?" He had a smile like the sun - far too bright. Virgil was sure if he looked at him for too long he’d burn his eyes.

He gave a finger gun.” That’s my name.” He walked down the short hallway with the man, “But you can call me, ‘living ball of anxiety’ because that’s honestly how I feel.”

Emile put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder, his eyes full of sincerity, “I’m sorry you feel that way,” before Virgil knew it they arrived at his office, “You know, a lot of people feel anxious sometimes. Have you heard of a little show called my little pony?”

Virgil looked away, this was weird, “Uh, yeah. My friend Logan had me watch a few episodes with him when he was hyperfixating on it. Why?” 

Emile leaned forward on his chair and put his head on his hand, “Well, there’s a character on it named Fluttershy-”

Virgil couldn’t help but snort at the name, “I take it she’s shy?”

Emile nodded, “Mmhmm! Very! And extremely anxious, especially in cases where there were large crowds. But when it really counted, she was able to be brave and could even talk down a dragon.”

Virgil shuffled, "Uh, yeah, that’s pretty interesting. I’m not really interested in that though. I kind of want to talk about my experiences though.” If he wanted to hear an hour long talk about how interesting Fluttershy’s arc was, he’d call Logan. Not that he didn’t like to listen to that, but it wasn’t what he was looking for from therapy.

“Okay! Are you more of a musical person, Evan Hanson is the pinnacle of Social Anxiety representation in my humblest of opinions-” Virgil muttered something about social anxiety not making a person lie to a family about being friends with their dead son and shook his head.

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it, there are some good songs I guess.”

Emile perked up and cooed, “Doesn’t it? My favorite has to be Waving Through a Window, it’s an instant classic. It deserved every Tony.”

Virgil hated this, all he could do was nod along as Emile kept talking about fictional situations that he didn’t feel a connection to and frankly had no interest in. He thought this whole thing was supposed to help him learn more about himself and deal with his anxiety but...

About halfway through he grabbed his bag, “I don’t think this is helping much, I think I need someone else to help me. Sorry-” Emile grabbed his arm, he flinched back.

“NO! Wait, maybe I messed up this meeting. Whoopsie daisies!” He shrugged nonchalantly, “But I promise, next meeting will better than this one. Just give me one more chance.”

\--------------------------------------------------------

Virgil wasn’t sure why Emile changed the setting of their meetings, but here he was backstage while a performance went on. He guessed Emile was trying out a new technique that might help him better. He appreciated him for trying even if the heat and energy of backstage made him feel trapped and queasy.

“There you are!” And there he was now, his voice like a bird’s pleasant trill of delight. “But you’re not dressed, you only have a few minutes before your solo of Michel in the Bathroom!” He shoved clothing at Virgil who blinked at him.

“What?”

“No time to explain!” Emile giggled and shoved him into a dressing room the size of a closet by himself. In a daze from the entire thing, he got changed into the outfit. It was a few sizes too big but that only helped Emile grab his sleeve when he got out and practically throw him onto the stage.

Alone.

He looked into the audience, hoping Emile would at least make it an empty theater. On the contrary, there were at least 10 people clumped in the center of the theater. But at that moment 10 might as well had been 10 million, because he was standing there which was awkward and that light burned so much and he’d never rehearsed this- he never wanted to be involved in theater. He liked this song but didn’t know the lyrics and the piano person was waiting for a cue that he didn’t know. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. If he didn’t breathe he would die, but at that moment dying might very well be better than standing there as a million people stared at him, prepared to throw rotting fruit at him when they realized how much of a failure he was, he was always a failure, such a failure, he didn’t know his lines, he didn’t know what he was doing and these people were staring at him judging him like predator’s ready to attack him, they’d attack him and he would lose and die, die, die and at this point he very much might have deserved it for being such a loser failure of a person.

He did the only thing he felt like he could do. 

He ran.

He ran out of the auditorium, onto the streets, he tried to remember where he parked but his eyes were so blurry with tears and his head pounded with pain. 

He couldn’t tell anyone after the fact how he got home. He didn’t remember driving- frankly at that point he wouldn’t have trusted himself to drive at that point- but he did get home. And when he did, he noticed he had a new text.

“I’m sorry for messing up again! Please don’t consider it a failure yet though, you may seem like a totally hopeless case, but I won’t give up on you.” 

Virgil bit his lip, if he seemed hopeless, it probably wouldn’t be easier for any other therapists to deal with him. And Emile seemed like he believed and wanted to help him, he’d pay for another session.

Hypnotherapy

Building maps of his family tree (which inevitably ended up being a conversation about the family tree of Steven Universe.)

The Empty Chair technique (But Emile said that his Anxiety was, ‘like Jeremy’s squip’ and they barely ended up talking about it at all.)

As they went through more and more methods Virgil felt more and more hopeless. He’d spent at least 1,000 dollars on these meetings, but he stopped counting after 4. He hated the idea that he’d spent so much money and gained nothing, and Emile seemed invested in keeping him around. Every time he mentioned leaving he would insist that he could try a new method, until the time when he said something else.

“Do you really think anyone else could help you Virgil? I’m the best there is, and I’ve tried so many methods with you... I swear I’m getting closer to working you out. But if you start with a new therapist you’ll start back at square one with someone with far less experience and credentials.”

And Virgil believed him, he trusted that Emile had his best interests at heart

So he stayed.


	17. 100 ways to kill you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsympathetic Remus, paranoia inducing language, death

A rope too tight around your throat 

A few too many beers 

An exploding ‘Thank you’ note 

They’re sure to end in tears 

Cause death is creeping, sneaking 

and it’s sure to get us all! 

So when you climb a ladder 

With it’s moaning and it’s creaking

Don’t think too much about the fall

Or your head’ll be on a platter

Such beauty, such terror

When a knife goes through your chest

Your friends will shout ‘oh spare her!’

But your soul will lay to rest

And before I stop I must state

The joys of burning alive

stung by bees

the horrid morbidity of your fate!

Like choking on knives

Or drowning in the sea

And the screaming like music it rings in my ears!

The warmth of blood in my hand

The knowledge of your fears.

Beautiful, like the music of a band

A symphony of painful cries

The tired sighs of defeat

Tells me that your pain is true

As your heart beat starts to die

And your end you finally meet

I can't wait to get the chance to kill

You


	18. Lighten Up Kiddo!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsymp Patton, Symp Virgil, manipulative behavior, gaslighting, memory erasing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe how close we are to the end of October! I also can't believe it hecking snowed :(.
> 
> Before I start this one I want to thank everyone who's commented on my work so far, you guys are the best and it'snice to get encouragement that my work makes people Feel Things and isn't just shouted into a cold unfeeling void lol.

It wasn't easy, taming a Dark Side. Virgil had been full of rough edges, he didn't trust the Light Sides, didn't know how much they all cared for him behind their scorn. Patton sighed as he put down the last image in his scrapbook, Virgil smiling along with the group as he realized he was finally with his real family.

He couldn't help but think about the first time they'd really bonded.

Patton had woken up to the sound of a fist slamming against the door of a room. He wondered the long narrow hallway until he nearly ran up to Virgil, curled in a ball outside of his room. Shaking with rage.

He moved to sit down next to him, "What's wrong kiddo?"

He rocked a bit, "My door, it's here now. I know what..." His hand moved towards his mouth, a movement that was nearly instinctual for sides before they mentioned an unknown side, "The Others said happens when your door moves. It means..." He bit the sides of his index finger, Patton could tell he was trying to hold back tears. His poor kiddo had so much pain just thinking about the others for too long. "It means I can never go back. I-I don't want this-"

Patton shook his head, "I know it's rough right now Virgil, but I promise this is for the best." He moved closer to Virgil to hold him and rock along side him. "You were never like The Others. Not really. All they wanted was to hurt Thomas and make him a bad person. You may have seemed like Anxiety, but really." He kissed Virgil's cheek, "You're Thomas's Vigilance."

Virgil shook his head, "You're wrong you just don't know them like I do-" His face brightened, "Maybe we could let them in like how you let me in." He sat up and started messing with his fingers as he planned, "And you could see they're not who you think they are, and maybe we could finally be..." He took a deep breath, in and out.

Patton pet his hair, "maybe one day. But for tonight, you should get some rest."

Virgil nodded through a yawn standing up, "Yeah, you're probably right. Night pops."

Patton gave a small wave as he went back to bed.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. Virgil was adamant about seeing the others again, Patton even heard him cry in his room some nights. He whimpered about how much he missed them. Even after Patton faked a letter from Remus talking about how much he always hated him, the anxious side still insisted that he get a chance to prove that he wasn't evil.

It would be admirable if it weren't for the wrong people.

So what was a father to do with such a stubborn kiddo?

The next time he heard Virgil crying he moved close to him. "I never told you this before, but I have healing abilities."

Virgil growled, his eyeshadow turning darker and more intense, "I don't need healing."

Patton hummed, "But I think you do. This entire... Ordeal has been traumatic for you. You're split in half between two people you think you love and it's tearing you apart." He shook his head, "If you don't get help, you might Split." He slowly moved his hand towards him as if approaching a feral animal. "Please trust me. Let me help you."

There was a second of hesitation before Virgil leaned in and let Patton press his thumb against his forehead, allowing him to access his memories as he collapsed into his arms.

Patton adjusted things in his mind like a professional metal worker, adding and erasing scenarios until a new vision of the world appeared in the side's eyes. A simple one of reformation, villains and the heroes who worked to save him.

Sometimes he was still difficult, he'd cry without knowing why or say something felt familiar and made him happy when it shouldn't. But Patton was always there to clarify or fix things. By the time Deceit made his first appearance Virgil only felt scorn and hatred for his former friend.

And Patton couldn't be prouder.


	19. Captured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsympathetic Virgil, Unsympathetic Patton, Sympathetic Remus, Sympathetic Janus, Human Au, blood

Remus took his hand off of his mouth and let himself let out a massive screech of delight and stomp his feet against the hard floor of the car. They were out, they’d finally managed to escape! Virgil put his hands to his ears while Janus’s eyes narrowed as he starred at the road ahead of him. 

“We don’t know where we’re going. Not really. I-I honestly didn’t think we would get this far.” His voice was flat but his hand was shaking. Virgil put one hand on it and stroked his knuckles.

“Don’t worry about it too much for now. Just keep driving until you need to sleep or we need to stop for gas.” Janus nodded in agreement. 

Day turned to night and again and again. Janus didn’t need to sleep. He didn’t! They needed to get to the other side of the country long before he needed to sleep. Though he couldn’t help the ping of jealousy that came from watching Virgil in the seat next to him, snoring softly, only occasionally twitching or turning around. He could only imagine the nightmare’s that plagued him while he slept. He didn’t need to imagine it for Remus. He moaned and cried and talked in his sleep restlessly. 

He wished he could wrap a blanket around them, hold them both and tell them it would all be okay. Even if they could only believe it for a few minutes -if only he had just a few minutes- to settle the unease that rested in their souls. 

He snapped back into focus when he heard Remus's voice, "Jaaaaan I'm hungry!" His voice was high pitched and whiny as he chewed lazily on a bottlecap.

Janus shook his head, "We can't stop yet, we're not far enough."

Remus sighed, "Jan-Jan you almost crashed into a truck a while back because you couldn't keep your eyes open and while I'd love to watch that explosion with all the gas and fire and destruction! I think it's time for you to rest."

Janus took a deep breath, he knew Remus was right. If he denied himself all he would accomplish is getting them in an accident, which would mean someone realizing this isn't their car, them getting arrested and of course Patton would bail them out. He almost wished jail was where his train of thought stopped.

They couldn't just read the road signs and go to the nearest Residence Inn like it was nothing. They needed to be sneaky, he left the highway onto exit to an unmarked town. The place was out of the way and if the Mdolds sign was any indication, it was forgotten by all except who lived here. 

It was perfect.

The Innkeeper was a smiling old man, apparently the group was so ragged and had such an off-putting scent from not showing and being in a hot car together for 3 days, that the man decided to give them a massive discount. Janus making an active scene out of looking for money, rummaging in his purse far longer than necessary and counting each piece of money delicately. It was a bit of a trickster move, but once he got to the room -which he was sure violated some health code when he found a dead rat under the bed- but more importantly, there was a bed! A bed with blankets to stay warm under and moth-eaten pillows to lay on. He practically collapsed onto it next to Remus. 

He cocked his head and motioned for Virgil to join them but he waved his hand, “Nah, you said you were hungry right?” 

Remus perked up at the idea of food, “Hell yeah, are you going to get us food?”

Janus sat up, “You don’t have to- you shouldn’t go by yourself. I’ll go, or at least come with you-”

Virgil closed his eyes and sat next to Janus on the bed, he put one hand gently on his cheek, “You worry too much. You’ve been up for the last few days and honestly, you’ve done so much for us.” He gave a small, loving smile, “Please, let me do this one thing for you.”

“I’ll go-” Remus started, but Virgil stopped him.

“Sorry Remus, but you’re not exactly good at being inconspicuous.” Remus shrugged and said fair enough. Virgil pulled his hair back into a sort of bad small side ponytail.

“I’ll see you in 10.”

Janus sunk into whatever comfort the mattresses and pillows could offer, and let himself fall into the comparative bliss of sleep to the sound of Remus talking about how he hopes Virgil gets those 50 piece chicken nuggets. 

There was one thing worse than waking up to a knife to your throat.

Waking up with a knife to your throat being held by one of your closest friends.

“Virgil?” Janus’s voice cracked, “What’s going on.”

Virgil bit his lip than took a deep breath before glaring at Janus, “Get up and follow me.”

Janus shook his head, something was wrong, “Virgil what’s-” His question was interrupted by the knife digging into his skin, he didn’t break skin, but the implication was clear. His heart pounded in his chest but he just tilted his head up further, “You were a plant weren’t you?”

Virgil looked to the side for a second and that was all Janus needed to hear, “How much of it was real? How much did you actually care for us and how much were you faking? How long has this been planned? Was none of this real?” He flinched as the knife broke through his skin and a few droplets of blood dribbled down his neck and onto his chest. 

Janus looked at the ground, “I see.” He slowly sat up, careful not to run straight into the knife. He let Virgil tie his hands behind his back and put him into the car where Patton was waiting for him and Remus sat next to him. Apparently he’d fought hard while Janus slept because he was knocked out and gagged. Part of him wanted to believe Virgil had gone easy on him, something to honor their friendship...

He felt the blood on his throat bleed start to dry there and couldn’t convince himself. He’d been a fool to trust other people with his plan to escape. He hesitated, glancing at Remus. He’d never seen him sleep this soundly... But no. He couldn’t be trusted either. He loved Remus, but if Patton could convince him to be a spy, to catch them-

Next time he tried, he’d go alone.


	20. Sing for me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsympathetic character Thomas, sympathetic roman, angast, body horror (mild)

Roman loved to sing, he had a fairly wide range (though Tarrence's was higher) When Roman sung he felt his soul poor out through his chest as he turned and mixed his notes and tones to fit the piece, drawing from his own experiences of joy and lust, fear and betrayal! Singing made him feel full and whole.

So when Thomas asked him to sing him to sleep one night, of course he didn't refuse. With only the power of his voice he weaved a tale through the air around Thomas, one of a farmboy's strange prophetic visions of creatures from a land beyond the stars coming to meet them. And though Thomas followed his song with a twinkle in his eye, he inevitably fell asleep.

After that Thomas asked Roman to sing more often, which delighted him! He wrote his own songs about Thomas's victories and sang them when he was happy. He sang songs languishing in angst when Thomas was sad. And when he was bored he'd go back to classics Disney songs. 

He loved it, even when his voice got so sore he could barely speak.

He loved it, even when his breath support ran out and he'd be left coughing and weazing while Thomas told him to continue. 

But then there was one incident...

"I'm sorry Thomas," his voice croaked, "but sometimes when you overwork your Creativity you get creative drought and." He touched his throat, dry, itchy, and in pain. 

Thomas frowned, "You're my side, a part of me. If I can sing right now," he hummed a few bars, "than you can." He crossed his arms, "Do you just not want to?"

Roman shook his head, "No, no, it's not that it's-"

Thomas's hand clenched into a fist and Roman felt a stange, uncomfortable tingling sensation fill his body. "Than sing."

Roman opened his mouth to reply but found himself starting Part of Your World. He tried to press his hand against his mouth to stop the song from playing, sending fire down his throat, but like smoke through vents his voice continued to come out. Tears filled his eyes as he couldn't tell Thomas how much it hurt, he couldn't say a word until the song was over-

A part of him wondered whether he'd care.

He didn't realize hs'd collapsed onto his hands and knees, sobbing genbtly until he felt Thomas's hand touch his shoulder. "That was lovely Roman, thank you."

Roman let himself give a nearly impossible to hear, "Anytime." Before collapsing on the ground completely. He curled himself into a ball, sniffling. His throat felt like he'd just spent the last few minutes gargling marbles. It stung and burned and he didn't even have the ability to stop it. If Thomas wanted him to sing, he'd sing. Whether he liked it or not.

Roman didn't like singing anymore.


	21. The End?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just an author's note

This was fun while it lasted! I didn't finish the month but I got pretty damn close! I might still steal prompts from the original Unsymptober blog but the new one shots will probably take ages to work on, especially since I've got a good amount of life stuff going on. Thank you for reading!


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